This invention relates to a capo for a mountain dulcimer or other dulcimer. More particularly, it relates to a capo which may be quickly attached or detached from the fret board of a dulcimer musical instrument.
Many stringed instruments such as the guitar or dulcimer require the player of the instrument to change chords. Changing cords is accomplished by depressing the strings on the fret board at various lengths along the strings. This procedure is sometimes accomplished by hand, although it may also be conveniently accomplished by use of a capo.
Guitar capos are commonly known in the musical instrument industry. One such guitar capo is shown in the 1982 patent issued to Wilkerson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,165. This particular capo, and other capos found in the guitar industry, utilize an essentially L-shaped device which is attached to the string board to depress the strings at various lengths along the string board. Some of these capos are quick-release type of aids. However, the guitar capos are all distinct from a dulcimer capo due to the nature of a guitar as opposed to a dulcimer.
A guitar has a lower body and an extended and narrow neck or string board. This narrow string board allows the guitar capo to be attached around the entire string board. In the dulcimer application, the construction of the dulcimer makes it impossible to place the capo around a narrow extended string board since there is no extended string board about which to attach the capo.
A dulcimer is made of a body which has on its top, running along the length of the body, a raised fret board. The entire length of the fret board is attached to the lower dulcimer body thus making it impossible to attach a capo underneath the fret board. This feature renders the use of a guitar capo on a dulcimer impossible. Additionally, since dulcimers often utilize fewer strings than a guitar, it is common when playing the dulcimer to be required to change chords frequently and rapidly. Although known dulcimer capos have provided the capability for changing chords on the dulcimer, none of the prior art provides a dulcimer capo capable of quick-release and re-attachment.
It is an object of this invention to provide a capo which is capable of being attached to a dulcimer fret board. It is a further object of this invention to provide a dulcimer capo which may be quickly and easily attached and re-attached to a dulcimer fret board by means of a quick-attach lever. It is a still further object of this invention to provide a reliable and quickly removable dulcimer capo for use with a dulcimer stringed instrument.
Further and other objects of this invention will become apparent upon reading the below Specification.